by Margalit Fox

Mariuccia Mandelli, an Italian fashion designer whose long list of credits includes the shortest of achievements — she was widely described as having invented hot pants — died on Sunday at her home in Milan. She was 90. In a statement, Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, paid tribute to Ms. Mandelli. Ms. Mandelli, a former schoolteacher and self-taught designer, founded the fashion house Krizia in the mid-1950s. She reigned for decades as "the godmother of classic Milanese fashion," as Newsweek described her in 1987.

One of Italy's first ready-to-wear houses, Krizia — known for designs that combined wit, whimsy and wearability — helped secure the country's place in the fashion firmament. At its height in the 1990s, Krizia was a $500-million-a-year business, with a string of retail shops worldwide and a spate of branded products that included eyeglasses, neckties, furniture and perfumes.

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/